The World
Record for the Most Venomous Land Snake

Some 680-700 of the
worlds 2700 snake species are venomous (almost one third of which are
harmless to people). By far the most venomous land snake in the world
is the 1.7m (5ft 7in) small-scaled or fierce snake (Oxyuranus microlepidotus),
found in isolated patches over a very large area of east-central Australia.
It appears to be most common in the Diamantina River and Cooper Creek
drainage basins, Queensland and Western New South Wales, where it feeds
mainly on the plague rat; a bitten rat would probably drop dead within
a few seconds, since the snakes venom is strongly neurotoxic. The average
venom yield after milking is 44mg (0.00155oz), but one male specimen yielded
a record 110mg (0.00385oz) - enough to kill 250,000 mice. Fortunately,
because of the remoteness of its habitat it rarely comes into contact
with people and, so far, no human fatalities have been reported.